Eighties New York
A Portrait in Black and White
Monterey Press, East Sussex, March 2019, £100
215 x 215 mm, 160 black and white photographs, 212 pages, ISBN 978-0-9560188-2-3
A special author’s edition limited to 50 copies, each signed and numbered.
In a succession of images of great formal elegance, arranged to be seen in their given sequence, well-known photographer and author Michael George delivers an intimate insider’s view of America’s greatest city in the gilded, often egregious eighties. Although he was born in Cardiff, Wales, New York was where Michael George started his career as a professional imager, gaining early recognition for what Grace Glueck, Art News Editor, The New York Times, praised as his “striking, beautifully composed architectural close-ups in both colour and black-and-white”. An adept at photographing people unawares, and with a passion for accurate observation, Michael George provides a composite portrayal of New Yorkers, the embodiment of the true spirit of New York, in a stunning series of compelling originality, both candid and posed, seen against a backdrop of the built environment, featuring striking studies of the city’s public sculpture and – another of the photographer’s favourite subjects – soaring skyscrapers, such as the iconic Art Deco spires of the Chrysler and Empire State landmark buildings.
Michael George’s first book on his adoptive city, New York Today, a collection of 151 photographs in colour, was launched with a reception on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, 12 October 1988, hosted jointly by Abrams, the publisher, and Olympus Corporation America. In a letter to the author, Donald J. Trump, President, The Trump Organization, wrote: “Dear Michael, The book, NEW YORK TODAY, is fantastic! I was impressed not only by the beautiful shot of Trump Tower on the cover, but also by the great photography throughout. I appreciate having been included in such a great project.” The future President of the United States, captured this time in black and white, is among the A-listers portrayed in Eighties New York.
“I have taken great pleasure turning the pages and refreshing my sense of New York and its recent history – it’s a city I have visited at least once a year for the last twenty years. The text is excellent.”
Sir Ivor Crewe, DL, MSc (Lond), MA (Oxon)
Master
University College
Oxford
“A very beautiful book about New York, one of my favourite cities. It showed me a place that was in so many ways very familiar, but from some very different perspectives. I was struck too by the great variety of people whose photographs you took - a real kaleidoscope of society. You have captured so many aspects of NYC life.”
Dr. Robin Darwall-Smith, FSA, FRHistS
Archivist
University College
Oxford
“It is a terrific story about our city – your eye for detail, both of the people who live here and the urban architecture, speak wonders for what we are.”
Marilyn Satin Kushner, PhD
Curator and Head
Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections
New-York Historical Society
Museum & Library
New York
“Excellent. I enjoyed the book very much.”
Mark Thompson
President and CEO
The New York Times Company
New York
“It has given me great pleasure to go through it carefully, recognizing the places and personalities that caught your eye. Congratulations on this achievement.”
Anthony Korner
CEO
Artforum International Magazine Inc
New York
“Stunning images afford the reader a perceptive insight into The Big Apple, from architectural milestones, such as Brooklyn Bridge and the Chrysler Building, to gritty, candid, backstreet vignettes. Partying high-society socialites vie for attention with towering monuments to capitalism. The meticulously-researched text at the back of the book provides a wealth of illuminating detail. In a ‘legacy project’, digital technology is also being used to extend the life of a representative body of his work as a photographer and author for University College, Oxford, his alma mater.”
John Dowling
Bexhill & Battle Observer
Friday, May 10, 2019